James Bidwell and Sophie Albizua launch transformation consultancy Re_Set

James Bidwell, retail and tourism leader and owner of Springwise, and Sophie Albizua, private equity and digital specialist, have launched new consultancy Re_Set. The London-based advisory firm will cater to the innovation and transformation needs of UK businesses looking to prepare for an uncertain future.

In an era of rapid technological advancement, innovation is currently seen by companies as a kind of holy grail, which can deliver improved performance and results, while ultimately cutting costs. Digital transformation particularly is being seen as increasingly important to the future prosperity of any business, leading the digital transformation consulting market to boom to a value of more than $23 billion, as clients seek external assistance with transformations.

However, there is still a clear gap in terms of how innovation is perceived by businesses, and the actions organisations actually take to deliver it. According to a recent study by CB Insights, 85% of companies believe innovation is very important to their growth strategy, but only 43% of companies have established innovation processes. Similarly, a study by PA Consulting last year found that while 66% confirm that their organisation will not survive without innovation, as many as 37% of executives said that their organisation has made no, or only minimal, changes to its innovation approach, while 50% stated they did not believe their leaders fully displayed the vision and passion needed to make innovation happen.

Re_Set

Now, a new consultancy has launched with a view to addressing the strategic mismatch between firms and their innovation ambitions. Re_Set will focus on strategic transformation and innovation programmes, working at board level to help define and then implement solutions. The consultancy plans to differentiate itself from competitors via its offerings and "strong team", who boast broad and relevant experience. The firm will further use its talent pool to manage the group’s strategy, implementation and programme portfolio, and specialises in transforming culture and mindsets of organisations looking to innovate their operations.

Re_Set will also work particularly closely with private equity funds, such as CapitalD, a new mid-market fund focused on investing in the disruption economy, and leverage Springwise Innovation Intelligence. This is due to the backgrounds of Re_Set’s two founders, James Bidwell and Sophie Albizua. The latter has an extensive history in private equity, as an investor turned digital transformation expert, she has previously been engaged by the likes of Goldman Sachs, Change Capital, The eNova Partnership, yReceipts, and many more. Meanwhile, Bidwell, an experienced retail leader and former Marketing Director with Selfridges, owns Springwise.com.

Commenting on the new firm’s launch, Albizua said, “Most industries are at a critical inflexion point in their history. The digital revolution and the exponential economy give rise to a pace of change which organisations struggle to keep up with. Re_Set exists to bridge the strategy-innovation and execution gap.”

The two co-founders worked together for over a year via Springwise, and will formally unite their business relationship with the launch of Re_Set, as the new firm will acquire Albizua’s former boutique digital transformation consultancy. She and Bidwell are supported by fellow Partner Kate King, who specialises in culture and mindset and a team of experts in digital transformation and programme management.

According to Bidwell, “Kate and I worked together on the highly successful transformation of Selfridges, where… Kate was head of Learning and Development.”

He added that the firm’s ambitions for 2018 and beyond are to grow with the needs of clients for transformation advisory services. Bidwell said, “We already have several blue chip clients from a variety of industries, and the response to our work is overwhelmingly positive. Our ambition is to be the go-to transformation consultancy for brands who are committed to positive change.”